Revelation 1:17

{10} And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. {11} And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; {12} I am the first and the last: (10) A religious fear, that goes before the calling of the saints, and their full confirmation to take on them the vocation of God. (11) A divine confirmation of this calling, partly by sign, and partly by word of power. (12) A most elegant description of this calling contained in three things, which are necessary to a just vocation: first the authority of him who calls, for he is the beginning and end of all things, in this verse, for he is eternal and omnipotent Re 1:8. Secondly the sum of his prophetic calling and revelation Re 1:9. Lastly a declaration of those persons to whom this prophecy is by the commandment of God directed in the description of it Re 1:20.

Revelation 1:17-18 . And when I saw him — In this awful, this glorious, and resplendent form, I was perfectly overwhelmed with the majesty of his appearance, so that I fell at his feet as dead — Human nature not being able to sustain so glorious an appearance. Thus was he prepared, (like Daniel of old, whom he particularly resembles,) for receiving so weighty a prophecy. A great sinking of nature usually precedes a large communication of heavenly things. St. John, before our Lord suffered, was so intimate with him as to lean on his breast, to lie in his bosom. Yet now, near seventy years after, the aged apostle is by one glance struck to the ground. What a glory must this be! Ye sinners, be afraid. Cleanse your hands. Purify your hearts. Ye saints, be humble. Prepare. Rejoice. But rejoice unto him with reverence. An increase of reverence toward this awful Majesty can be no prejudice to your faith. Let all petulancy, with all vain curiosity, be far away, while you are thinking or reading of these things. And he laid his right hand upon me — The same wherein he held the seven stars. What did St. John then feel in himself? Saying, Fear not — His look terrifies, his speech strengthens. He does not call John by name, (as the angel did Zachariah and others,) but spoke as his well-known Master. What follows is also spoken to strengthen and encourage him.

I am — When in his state of humiliation he spoke of his glory, he frequently spoke in the third person, as Matthew 26:64 , but he now speaks of his own glory without any veil, in plain and direct terms. The first and the last — That is, the eternal God, who is from everlasting to everlasting, Isaiah 41:4 . I am he that liveth — Another peculiar title of God; and I have the keys of death and of hell — Or hades, that is, the invisible world; in the intermediate state the body abides in death, the soul in hades. Christ hath the keys of, that is, the power over both, killing or quickening of the body, and disposing of the soul as it pleaseth him. He gave St. Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, but not the keys of death or of hades. How comes then his supposed successor at Rome by the keys of purgatory? It must be allowed that αδης hades, sometimes signifies the grave; but, as Mr. Howe has largely proved in his excellent discourse on this text, the interpretation here given is most reasonable. That which would refer it to hell, as the seat of the damned, limits the sense in a manner very derogatory from the honour of our Lord, as he there shows unanswerably. According to Grotius, (in his note on Matthew 16:18 ,) the word αδης always denotes either death, or the state after death.

Ifell Compare Exodus 23:20; Ezekiel 1:28; Daniel 8:17 sqq.; Daniel 10:7 sqq.; Luke 5:8; Revelation 19:10. The condition of the seer, in the Spirit, does not supersede existence in the body. Compare Acts 9:3-5. The first and the last This epithet is three times ascribed to Jehovah by Isaiah (Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 48:12); three times in this book (here, Revelation 2:8; Revelation 22:13). Richard of St. Victor comments thus: "I am the first and the last. First through creation, last through retribution. First, because before me a God was not formed; last, because after me there shall not be another. First, because all things are from me; last, because all things are to me; from me the beginning, to me the end. First, because I am the cause of origin; last, because I am the judge and the end" (cited by Trench).

I fell at his feet as dead; astonished at the majesty and glory of the appearance: see Joshua 5:14 Daniel 8:17,18 Mt 17:6 Acts 9:4 . And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; to comfort me, and let me know, that I had no reason to be afraid, he would do me no harm. I am the first and the last: see Revelation 1:8,11 .

17 . I fell at his feet as dead ] So Daniel 8:17 sq., Daniel 10:8-9 ; Daniel 10:15 ( Ezekiel 1:28 ; Ezekiel 43:3 ; Ezekiel 44:4 do not necessarily imply so much): cf. Exodus 3:6 ; Exodus 20:19 ; Exodus 33:20 ; Jdg 6:22 ; Jdg 13:22 ; Isaiah 6:5 , and also Luke 24:37 ; John 21:12 . St John was in presence of both the sources of supernatural terror—of God’s Presence made manifest, and of One come from the dead. he laid his right hand, &c. ] So Daniel 10:10 ; Daniel 10:16 . As in Luke 24:39 , the Lord’s touch serves to remind the Disciple of His still remaining perfect humanity. Sharing our nature, He is no longer the object of such blind terror as we should feel before an Angel or a disembodied spirit, or still more before God if revealed otherwise than in Christ. the first and the last ] i.e. the Eternal, as Isaiah 41:4 ; Isaiah 44:6 ; Isaiah 48:12 .

Revelation 1:17 . [ Ὡ ς νεκρὸ ς , as dead ) Great contrition of nature usually precedes a large bestowing of spiritual gifts.—V. g.]— ὁ πρῶτο ς κα ὶ ὁ ἔσχατο ς , the first and the last ) A most glorious title. In Hebrew ראשון אחרו ן , Isaiah 44:6 ; Isaiah 48:12 ; where the Septuagint renders it, ἐγ ὼ πρῶτο ς κα ὶ ἐγ ὼ μετ ὰ ταῦτ α , πλὴ ν ἐμο ῦ οὐ κ ἔστ ι Θεός : and again, ἐγ ώ εἰμ ι πρῶτο ς , κα ὶ ἐγ ώ εἰμ ι εἰ ς τὸ ν αἰῶν α . In both passages the translators appear to have considered the word ἔσχατο ς as insufficient to express the dignity of the speaker, and yet in fact it answered admirably to the Hebrew. Isaiah 41:4 , Ἐγ ὼ Θεὸ ς πρῶτο ς , κα ὶ εἰ ς τ ὰ ἐπερχόμεν α ( את אחרני ם ) ἐγ ώ εἰμ ι . The Messiah is speaking of Himself. Comp. Isaiah 48:16 . Hence in the Apocalypse the Lord Jesus applies this description to Himself, and explains it by the words which follow. Let the Form be observed: I am the First, and the Last : and the Living One : and I became dead, and behold, I am alive , etc. The immediate construction, The first and the Last , declares, that His Life, by the brief intervention of death, was interrupted in such a manner, that it ought not even to be considered as interrupted at all. Artemonius , in his treatise de Init. Evang. Joh., interprets the First and the Last as the most excellent and the most abject , p. 248; but if this were the meaning, the order of the events would require to be inverted, and that it should be written, The Last and the First .

Revelation 1:17 . ἔπεσα κ . τ . λ ., the stereotyped behaviour ( cf. Numbers 24:4 ) in such apocalyptic trances (Weinel, 129, 182, R. J. 375 f.; for the terror of spiritual experience cf. Schiller’s lines: “Schrecklich ist es Deiner Wahrheit " Sterbliches Gefäss zu seyn”); Jesus, however, does here what Michael (En. lxxi. 3) or some other friendly angel does in most Jewish apocalypses. There is no dialogue between the prophet and Christ, as there is afterwards between him and the celestial beings— μὴ φ . The triple reassurance is (1) that the mysterious, overwhelming Figure reveals his character, experience and authority, instead of proving an alien unearthly visitant; (2) the vision has a practical object (“write,” 19) bearing upon human life, and (3) consequently the mysteries are not left as baffling enigmas. All the early Christian revelations which are self-contained, presuppose the risen Christ as their source; the Apocalypse of Peter, being fragmentary, is hardly an exception to the rule. The present vision presents him as superhuman, messianic, militant and divine. But the writer is characteristically indifferent to the artistic error of making Christ’s right hand at once hold seven stars and be laid on the seer ( Revelation 1:16-17 ). Cf. the fine application of the following passage by Milton in his “Remonstrant’s Defence”. The whole description answers to what is termed, in modern psychology, a “photism”.

(17) I fell at his feet as dead .—At the sight of Him, the Evangelist fell as one dead. “Was this He whom upon earth St. John had known so familiarly? Was this He in whose bosom He had lain at that Last Supper, and said, ‘Lord, which is he that betrayeth Thee?’ When I saw Him thus transformed, thus glorified, I fell at His feet as one dead. Well might such be the effect, even upon the spirit of a just man made perfect—and St. John was still in the body—of such an open revelation of the risen glory of Christ” (Dr. Vaughan). It was pity, and the pang felt at the severity of retribution which overtook sin, which made Dante fall as a dead body falls ( Inferno, v.); it is the felt consciousness of unworthiness which seems to have overcome the Evangelist. This consciousness has its witness outside the Bible as well as in it. “Semele must perish if Jupiter reveals himself to her in his glory, being consumed in the brightness of that glory.” (Comp. Exodus 33:18 ; Exodus 33:20 , “Thou canst not see My face; for there shall no man see Me and live.”) For every man it is a dreadful thing to stand face to face with God. Yet the consciousness of this unworthiness to behold God, or to receive a near revelation of His presence, is a sign of faith, and is welcomed as such. Of him who said, “Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof,” Christ said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” ( Matthew 8:8-10 ).